Underachieving with Eudora Frost
by Banshee13
Summary: Meet Eudora Frost, Hogwarts finest Underacheiver.
1. Eudora's Problem

Ring. Ring. Please ring.

I glanced at the clock on the wall of the transfiguration classroom and begged it to speed up.

'Please,' I promised, 'speed up now, and I'll be your eternal slave'.

Slave to a clock – no idea how that works, but we'll make it work.'

No response.

I lay my head down in annoyance, on the cold and graffitied desk I'm lucky enough to call my own.

Well in transfiguration, anyway. I slowly moved my head in order to observe the people around me.

James Potter was staring at Lily again; he was so obvious it was irritating, if not slightly sad.

His best friend (and possible lover... I have my suspicions) was trying half-heartedly to get his attention, while staring at Lucia Melvin.

Lucia had grown a fair amount over the summer. And not in height either.

But her mother wouldn't by her a new uniform; so her blouse was… lets say constricting to certain appendages. Which meant that No boy over the age of eleven could maintain any self-control – and felt the need to stare at her chest whenever she was within eyesight.

Pathetic.

Oh my god.

It's only been twenty-five seconds since I last looked at the clock. Merlins Beard, when will this torture end?

This is worse then being hung, drawn and quartered – good god, it's like being cut, bisected and right angled.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

"Miss Frost, what would this torture you are referring to be?"

Torture? Did I say that out loud? Crap!

"Please enlighten us," Professor Magonagall waved her perfectly manicured hand in the general direction of the rest of the class. Her and her damn smug look…. She can take that hand and shove it up her –

"We're all waiting Miss Frost?" she continued, cutting off my thoughts.

"Well Professor," I said, meeting her stern look, with a sarcastic grin of my own, "I'm _so_ much looking forward to our next transfiguration lesson, I believe is the start of the whole teacup to Turtle thing, that _everything_ is torture to me. Even Care of magical creatures will be hell when I know transfiguration _heaven_ is so _close_!"

Bell rang. Finally.

Thank you sweet Merlin.

"Well class, tomorrow bring your text books." Professor Magonagall said, rather taken aback by my quick, sarcasm-ridden reply.

I leapt out of my seat so eagerly that I almost knocked Lily over. No time – got to escape transfiguration!

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry Lil." I picked up my books from where I'd dropped them, and sighed as I saw my timetable on the back of my school diary.

Potions next.

Escape one hell – only to enter the next.

See Potions was all well and good, if you don't happen to be Lily Evans best friend. Which really was the case with everything.

Granted. She wasn't necessarily the prettiest or most popular girl at Hogwarts, but at least people knew who she was!

I mean, Professor Slughorn (not to mention one James Potter) practically physically swooned when she came into the class (for very different reasons of course. Well, at least I hope so).

She was the vivacious, intelligent, pretty girl with the gorgeous red hair.

I was her loser sidekick. Mediocre in all of my classes, Care of magical creatures excluded. Plain in personality and appearance, and lets face it – I could stand lose a few kilos. But I'm not bitter about it, Not at all . . . well maybe a little.

"Eudora? Earth to Eudora?" Lily waved a hand in front of my face. I was snapped back to reality. "Lily, am I not allowed to drift once in a while?" I grinned and smacked her hand away from me.

"Sure, once in a while – but you've away with the fairies for most of the day."

"They're better company than you is all."

Lily hit me, and laughed.

"Come on, Potions awaits us!"

I could barely contain my excitement.

After twenty pointless minutes of lecturing us all about how inept our essays had been lately (except _yours_ of course Lily) Slughorn gave us an essay topic and told us to work silently for the next hour.

Of course what _I _did however was give begin to give myself a divine tattoo, a love tattoo as it were.

Of Amos Diggory.Hufflepuff hero and... in my eyes a Love God.

A splash of Hollywood good looks, a charming smile, deep brown eyes. The shiny hair, the devastating grin . . . _Drat. It didn't look like Amos Diggory at all… more like an upside down Hippogriff. _

Art was yet another talent I didn't posses. I looked over at Lily, she was bent over writing her essay furiously, I guessed I should start on mine.

"_Ten Reasons Why Famous Potion Master Drexyl Mornington was chosen to become the spokesperson for 'Newts Eye Potions Inc.'_

But it was too boring to comprehend, so I began touch ups of my Amos Diggory/Hippogriff tattoo. I finished the light and shad of Amos' heavenly grin and coughed in a signal to Lily that communication was desired.

I held up my hand to show Lily the tattoo, she smiled in that tired way she usually does when I explain to her why yet again I've neglected to do my homework, but immediately after looked up at professor Slughorn and went back to doing her essay.

Slughorn, Or 'Old Sluggy' to … well no one, was glaring at me from his desk. His high regard for Lily did not unfortunately extend to me.

"Miss Frost, Whats your problem?" He said not in an unkind way.

"Oh God Professor, So many . . . Tragic broken home, hideous genetic inheritance, huge arse."

Lily rolled her eyes, and a couple of Ravenclaws giggled.

"If you spent half as much effort on your school work as you did trying to be amusing you'd be head of the class instead of class dunce."

I figured if I wanted to avoid yet another detention this week, I'd better do my essay. So with an audible sigh (which caused a few more Ravenclaws to sigh, and Professor Slughorn to clear his throat in what I figured was meant to be a threatening way) I set to work on my essay.

I worked progressively throughout the lesson, and stopped when I heard Professor Slughorn tell us the lesson was over and to bring our essays to the front of the classroom.

Lily and I as per usual were the last to hand in our essays, as she handed in hers, Slughorn told her when the next Slug Club meeting would take place. She smiled good-naturedly and walked out of the classroom, where I knew she'd wait for me. She knew by now that most teachers had something to say to me at the end of class, and would always wait for me out of eyesight, more so she could listen in than out of friendship.

But I appreciated it all the same.

I handed my essay in and Professor Slughorn mad a long, sad speech about how well I would do if I tried, and how terribly I was underachieving. All my teachers were upset about it apparently. I imagined them all weeping in their offices. There had never been an underachievement like it, apparently. This was almost an achievement in itself.

I listened to his tirade (I'd heard one like it from most of my teachers since fourth year) and nodded, trying to look tragic and guilty and left the classroom to find Lily shaking her head.

"He's right you know." She said, as we walked towards the great hall for lunch.

"About me being the class dunce? Harsh Evans. Harsh."

"No – about how you have a tendency to… I don't know." She shook her head. And I stared at her.

A tendency to what? To what?

"A tendency to. . . ?" I motioned with my hand.

"Nothing, Look we're in sixth year, I mean there's only one more year left."

"Well done Lily, your genius often astounds me. That you've managed to work out how much longer we have left at school after an already vigorous day of studies. . . well its mind blowing, it truly is." I was only messing. She knew it too. But she still gritted her teeth.

"You know where I'm going with this, Eudora." She said frustrated.

"Do I? Should've picked Divination instead of potions then"

Getting a rise out of Lily usually put me in a good mood, but today was not the case. Because I _did _know where she was going.

"I'm not even going to bother." She shook her head.

"Well, I can't say that I'm too disappointed about that." I smiled. "But that's not to say, I don't appreciate your concern, oh mother hen you." I laughed, as she grinned.

"Mother Hen?" She raised her eyebrow, which might I add was plucked to perfection and maintained regularly – very different to my own standards of eyebrow maintenance . . . which you know meant I'd do them when they began to grow out of control and affect my vision.

I pointedly ignored her I admit it. I couldn't think of anything to call her so I went with Mother Hen. I figure if I pretended I hadn't said it – it would go away.

We entered the great hall and walked towards the gryffindor table. Which is how we met in the first place, we sat next to each other the first night here when we'd both been sorted into gryffindor.

"Don't look now, here comes _Potter_." Lily, turned and tried to hide her face behind a text book – though I must say the flaming red hair sticking out from behind it was a bit of a giveaway.

"Lily!"

"James." She said through gritted teeth, slowly pulling 'Arithmency grade 6' from in front of her face. James, and his band of merry followers squeezed in next to us, James and Peter on either side of Lily who sat opposite me, and Sirius and Remus next to me.

Apart from Remus who'd been decent enough to ask me permission before he sat down beside me, none of them gave off the slightest impression they'd even realised I was there.

But you get used to this kind of treatment.

Well you do if you're a sixteen year old under achiever named Eudora Frost.


	2. Are you New?

"And then, Sirius said 'but you have such _beautiful _eyes!"

The small blonde ferret faced little – I mean fourth year Ravenclaw and her little gang of parasites screeched, Yes, _Screeched_ with delight as their leader told them of her romantic tryst up the astronomy tower with Sirius Black.

I was supposed to be doing the essay Professor Puggle had set us for Care of magical creatures, the one lesson I found to not be a waste of time. But I was distracted when the blonde girl, her name I had gathered thus far was Sarah, or Sally or Skanky . . .had burst in and began to tell them all about how 'dreamy' and how 'manly and sophisticated' Sirius was.

Well, I love Crups and Kneezles as much as the next person, but this was too interesting to miss out on. I had skillfully managed to maneuver my seat so that I was in as prime a position to listen to them as possible, without looking like I was totally listening in.

She had begun to get pretty detailed, so much so I found myself blushing, when Lily dropped a huge pile of books down onto the table making me jump.

"Merlin's Beard Lily! Give a girl a heart attack!" I said a bit harsher than I'd intended. I was still annoyed at her for lunch, not that she was to blame in the slightest but even so, I'd put this past lunch in my top ten list of worst moments of my life having happened at Hogwarts.

Yep definitely up there with being dumped in front of everyone by the Ravenclaw who shall never be mentioned in my presence (on my birthday no less) and, the now infamous water bra moment.

See, I'm used to being ignored. Overlooked, sometimes even completely forgotten about. But often, I do tend to forget that I am this undistinguished. This past lunchtime thankfully I was reminded of this, and put swiftly back into my place.

James and Lily were having what Potter would most likely call a conversation – It's what stalkers, and people with complete breaks with reality do. To me, it looked more like James delivering a spectacular, narcissistic monologue of his skills in quidditch, with brief interludes of begging for a date, while Peter would occasionally agree with something James would say, ah the ever-faithful wingman.

Occasionally Lily would throw me a pleading look, like I'd be able to do something.

To my right Remus listened to Sirius tell him all about the most recent girl he'd 'canoodled' with. (Incidentally, it was not the same girl from the library who thought Sirius was, what was it? Oh yes sophisticated and manly.)

Anyway, after a full fifteen minutes of pretending to be concentrating particularly hard on my sandwich, which you become particularly good at – pretending to be busy and disinterested – when no one really takes any notice that you're there. When Remus began talking about Care of Magical Creatures.

"And Professor Puggle said we may even get to touch one, though it doesn't seem very practical to me."

"What doesn't seem practical to you? What are you on about" James grinned, looking away from Lily for five seconds.

"Touching a dragon, in seventh year you study them." Remus repeated.

"I couldn't do it – no way, surely it wouldn't be allowed? I mean what if it bit your arm off?" Peter looked at Remus worriedly.

"Depends on what type of dragon you get to study though doesn't it?" Lily started, "I mean, some are more vicious than others, and it more than likely wouldn't even be a fully grown one. Eudora's father works with dragons, and he's never once been bitten."

And there it was. The moment when reality slapped me in the face.

"Whose Eudora?" Sirius asked lazily, raising an eyebrow.

"Err, she's sitting right next to you." Lily hissed, I had become so skillful at busying myself in pretending I wasn't paying attention that Lily didn't think I'd heard. I had in fact managed to pick up a book and pretend I was deeply absorbed in it.

"Oh." Sirius said.

"Hey. Hey." He tapped the book I was reading, I waited until he'd called me twice so it looked like I really didn't know what was going on.

Told you. I'm a pro.

"I'm Sirius. Are you new here? I've never seen you before." He asked. He really, actually, sincerely asked this. In complete genuine seriousness.

Now, I've spent the majority of my life being reminded that I'm easily forgettable – I'm used to it, and have managed to find it amusing most of the time. But sometimes, this being one of the moments I've actually been…well hurt.

Lily, clearly mortified on my behalf had buried her face in her hands. I had actually, been in the majority of Sirius Black's classes, since first year.

In fact in herbology in second year I had been paired with him for an assignment.

His best friend was in love with and in essence stalking my best friend.

I was rendered momentarily speechless, before regaining my composure. "Lily, I just remembered I have that thing… I need to go to." I picked up my books, ignored Sirius' still extended hand and with one regrettable look at my half eaten sandwich retreated to the library.

Where I had been ever since.

Happily listening in on the most personal details of a fellow student – hey if she's telling it to a group of people in the _school _library, within range of other students she clearly wasn't to bothered about people, namely me, listening in.

And then Lily showed up.

No doubt so we could both awkwardly pretend that nothing had happened to humiliate me at lunchtime. Lily was clearly trying hard not to bring it up, biting her lip and all. I watched her look at her textbook; she was clearly trying to pretend to read. And to someone with lesser expertise she would've gotten away with it – but I could see her eyes weren't following along with the sentences. They were just fixated on one spot.

Also the book was upside down.

"Um, listen 'Dora you know they're idiots right?" she looked at me uncertainly, rather like a mouse approaching an owl.

"Who are idiots? These girls?" I tossed my head back as an indication that I was talking about the Ravenclaw girls. "I know, that one _actually_ -

"No Not them, well yes them, but I am talking about James and his lackeys. They're all so arrogant that I doubt they even know who _teaches _them in most subjects"

This was completely untrue. And we both knew it.

"Yes well, I couldn't care less what those morons think of me."

This was also completely untrue. But this time, only I knew it.

"Great, I knew you'd be fine. I have Arithmency next what have you got?" she asked, gathering her stuff together.

"Care of magical creatures." I stood up, because I figured it's what I should probably do seeing as everyone had started gathering his or her belongings and leaving the library.

"Well Lil, I'd best get to class you know how I do hate being late." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh for God's sake, I said it once in second year no less, when will you let it go?" Lily kicked her chair in under the table and with one final hair flip she left the library with me dawdling behind her on my way down to the grounds.

I was, as I'd hope the last person to arrive at the edge of the forbidden forest. Professor Puggle had already begun to explain what we would be doing today, so it was easy for me to slip in unnoticed. At least I thought I'd managed it.

When Puggle clapped her hands together to indicate we should all start trimming our Crups nails, a task that should probably be undertaken by trained and skilled SAS soldiers – they bit HARD, someone came up behind me.

I didn't notice them until they cleared their throat quite loudly to get my attention. I turned around to see Remus Lupin standing behind me, holding a squirming Crup. They were particularly cute, they looked just like Jack Russell dogs with one difference, they had a forked tale and a great distaste for muggles.

"Um, Hello Eudora." He said, holding the Crup at arms length. They had very sharp claws, hence today's task of trimming them. So the majority of the class was trying to keep them as far away from them as possible.

"Hi." I said turning back to my own Crup; she'd been sitting quietly wagging her little forked tail since I'd picked her.

"Listen, about lunchtime" he began. "Sirius is, well without tact." He looked very uncomfortable, though very much like he'd taken it upon himself to apologize on his friends' behalf many times before.

I had begun clipping Trina's (I had named my Crup, I named most of the creatures we dealt with in Care of Magical Creatures) while he was talking. In hopes that he'd give up and go away. I had managed to do her two back paws and she lay on the ground whimpering softly – why do they hate getting their nails clipped so much?

"And So, I am very sorry but they are very a like that way. I do apologize for them, but once you get to know them they're great guys." He must've kept talking while I was seeing to Trina. I gave her a treat I had in my pocket, and let her frolic for a little while before I did her two front paws. I seemed to have made the most headway by the looks of things.

"Listen," I said standing up and wiping the dirt and grass shavings from my knees. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine. It happens on a daily basis. I have accepted this, and have moved on."

"Surely it can't happen on a daily basis?" Remus raised an eyebrow, his Crup had used up all its energy in trying to escape him y squirming it now lay on the ground panting and accepting defeat.

"I assure it does. Watch this." I looked around and saw Frederica Jenkins, she was a huffelpuff. We had just today, sat next to each other in charms. She borrowed my quill. We spoke for a few minutes about the task, and she advised me on my incantation. I explained all this to Remus.

"Observe." I said to him.

"Frederica" I called, she turned to look at me.

"Can I borrow your text book please?"

She shrugged, picked up her textbook and tossed it over to where a few minutes before Trina had been sitting patiently waiting for me to continue her nails.

Remus gave me a look to show that my demonstration had meant nothing, until Frederica's friend Julie said, "Who was that?"

To which Frederica replied "I have no idea, never seen her before."

I shrugged, pushed the textbook aside and called Trina back to me. She pranced over and happily sat down in front of me. In silence I clipped Trina's front paws, while Remus started on his Crup. When I was done, Professor Puggle came over and commended me on my work in today's lesson.

A rare occurrence in any other lesson, but a daily one in Care of magical creatures.

I had finished with a quarter of an hour to spare, so I decided to do Remus' Crups nails for him. He looked at me with a mixture of gratitude a probably pity.

"Thanks, She just doesn't like me." He wasn't lying, Remus had the scratch and bite marks up his hands to prove it. But when I took his Crup, she wagged her tail and did as I told her.

"You're good at this aren't you?" He was good at making small talk.

"Yeah well, my dad loves animals, so I've grown up with almost every kind and they just, I don't know like me." And remember me. But I didn't add that part.

"There you go." I let go of Remus' Crup and it ran off towards Professor Puggle who'd begun to gather them all together using various dog treats.

"Well, thank you very much for that." Remus smiled.

"No problem." I tried to avoid looking at him, other than Lily, and a couple of students I had never really even spoken to anyone, and sarcastic comments don't count.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled again, or maybe he'd been smiling the whole time, that's a little too much smiley for my taste.

"Tomorrow?" I looked at him.

"In Care of magical creatures, we have a double tomorrow."

"Oh." I said.

"Well, see you."

I didn't reply, I was somewhat gob smacked really. I mean who goes around just talking to people they don't really know? Honestly.

I waved goodbye to Professor Puggle and to Trina, and headed back up towards the castle. I decided to go straight to bed and skip dinner, for some reason my stomach didn't really feel right. It kept doing weird flips.

Surely I'd remember swallowing an acrobatic team?

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the common room, a new record for me – how inconvenient having to live the majority of the year in a castle where it can take up to an hour to get to a bathroom?

I took the stairs two at a time until I got to my room. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one who'd gone straight up to the dormitory. Winnie Macdonald, and Gertrude Smyth were both in the room, laughing about something that had happened to our other room mate Abby Clemmins, last lesson.

"Eudora, you have – you have to –' Winnie gasped, trying to communicate with me. But after every word would burst out laughing.

"Abby – Slipped – Professor Flitwick – Flying –" Gertie managed.

I pieced together what they were trying to tell me when Abby stormed out of the bathroom, "I did not slip, Narcissa Black pushed me and you all saw it. It's not my fault Flitwick stands on a pile of books ok? I wish he'd made it sturdier too, but Madame Pomfrey said it would only take a couple of minutes to fix his broken leg."

She took a deep breath.

"Do you think this is going to affect my final grade?"

Which sent Gertie and Winnie into a fresh set of giggles.

"Oh honestly." Abby rolled her eyes, and sat down on my bed besides me. "Lily told me what happened at lunchtime. What's this, nine people now who have thought you were new?" She grinned.

"Ten, remember on the Hogwarts express that kid from Slytherin?"

"Oh yeah." She remembered.

Unlike Lily, Abby found my situation to be rather hilarious. In a nice way though, she and I had the same sense of humour.

"Maybe if you ran through the Great Hall naked at the end of year feast people will remember you?" She suggested.

"By George I think she's got it! That's what I'll do. I'll run naked through the great hall holding a sign above my head saying "I'm Eudora Frost, Have been here since first year you bunch of Wan –"

"Guys, Come quick! You'll never guess whats happened!" Lily said after bursting through the dormitory door.

"What? They've lengthened the library's opening hours?" Abby grinned.

"Just shut up and come, you'll never believe it."

What the hell could possibly be so unbelievable that Lily would burst open the Dorm door like that?


End file.
